Class 2 Reading Responses

A Day in the Life of Web 2.0
By David Warlick/October 15, 2006
http://www.techlearning.com/showArticle.php?articleID=193200296

As I read the scenario of the middle school that was totally immersed in Web 2.0, I was both inspired and overwhelmed. On the one hand, the range of interactions that were made possible by these online tools triggered the question of “how can I do this at my school?” On the other hand, the question of “how will I convince my non-tech teachers that they can do this?” also came up. The plethora of unknown terms such as blog, wiki, podcasts, RSS intimidates many of my colleagues. The definitions and links at the end of the article helped to clear up some of the mystery for me; I will also use these with my teammates.

For so long, teachers (especially self-contained primary teachers) have lived in their own insulated worlds. Any cross-curricula projects with other teachers required extra effort and preplanning. The Monday reports cited in the article seem to allow for more immediate responses and adaptations. Parent communication also benefits from the timely explanation of the how, what, and why of the course material.


Author Uses Blog Comments to Peer Review Book
Written by Josh Catone / January 22, 2008 3:31 PM
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/blog_peer_review.php

This was an interesting article about the use of a less traditional peer review of an unpublished book. Instead of giving the text to other professors and authors to get feedback, this author chose to ask his blog readers to comment on the book. The outcome of this attempt was not available. However, one response to the idea signaled a need for a vested interest by the readers in the book in order to get useful feedback.

I couldn’t help but draw a parallel to the students in my sixth grade writing class and how I might integrate this idea of using a blog to peer review other students’ writing. Instead of the usual trade-and-grade with one other partner for peer reviewing, the students could peer review multiple assignments and give a wider range of feedback to the writers. I could engender that vested interest by using their comments as part of the Writing Process grade (revising/editing); this might limit any silly, less-than-constructive responses.


The Social Graph: Issues and Strategies in 2008
Written by Dion Hinchcliffe/Wednesday, 16 January 2008 12:39 P GMT-05
http://web2.socialcomputingmagazine.com/

With the growth of such social networking sites as Facebook and MySpace, it has become necessary to understand the social graph and its importance to future social networking. Gone are the days of a simple contact list. The latest innovation involves a two-way opt-in option for a web of social connections online. I have a friend “Amy” who has a friend “John” who has a friend “Mary”. I can invite “Mary” to join my circle.

As a teacher, the implications of my students being connected to such an extensive network opens up the old “bogeyman” of student privacy and safety. I am not naïve enough to believe that I can shield them from the Internet. Most of my students have access at home; my own daughter has a MySpace account. This is their world. But, how do I utilize the power of those connections and relationships (i.e. as a primary source for research) while safeguarding the students from potential harm? That will be my challenge.


What Does the English Language Look Like?
Written by Josh Catone / January 18, 2008 7:24 AM
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/what_does_the_english_language_look_like.php

I’m not sure that this article had any great value other than to show how technology allows us to do things that were unimaginable just a few years ago. Some researchers at MIT and NYU decided to create a visual map of the English language using nearly 80 million images from the Internet. They created a semantic map of over 75,000 non-abstract nouns, found multiple images of each noun, morphed those images into a single image, and tessellated the images to create 80 million tiny images. The result is an amazing piece of artwork. If you click anywhere on the map, you can see the word and the images which make up that piece.

This would be an interesting site to show to students as inspiration for creating their own unique presentation of information. When discussing tessellations with my math class, this would be the ultimate example.


Defining User Generated Content; Or, Digg Is Too a UGC Site
Written by Josh Catone / January 21, 2008 12:19 PM
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/defining_user_generated_content.php

This article was written in response to another blogger, Allen Stern, who took exception to Digg receiving a Crunchie Award for “Best User Generated Content Site”. At issue was whether or not Digg was a “content” site. Stern contended that contributors to the site do not submit original content; they merely provide links to existing content. It could be argued that Digg is an aggregator. Yet, as Catone pointed out, the comments (a major part of Digg) are original media content.

This could make a great debate question in my writing class. In this age of Web 2.0, when we are redefining how we collaborate and create, what does “generate content” mean? After exploring the site, I must add that my opinion is that Digg is a UGC. According to Wikipedia, while the act of creating a link to content alone would not establish it as user generated, the fact that the contributor(s) also include their own comments adds a creative element to the submission.


Bad Form: 61% Use Same Password for Everything
Written by Josh Catone / January 17, 2008 9:35 AM /
http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/majority_use_same_password.php

The title alone was enough to get my attention. Unfortunately, I (like many people I know) use the same password or two for everything. While I know in theory that this is a bad idea, my reality is much like everyone else’s = I have too many sites to which to login. The article focused on one possible solution, OpenId, which allows users to login to multiple supported services with only one username and password. While this may sound ideal, it is fraught with pitfalls. The most obvious problem is that if you lose the one password, you’ve lost them all. According to the link provided in the article, there are also issues with unscrupulous sites redirecting you to fake providers as well as other potential problems.

So, until a better solution comes along, I will probably remain one of the 61% with password fatigue and stick to what I have. Or maybe I’ll go back to the old-fashioned way of securing my passwords: hard copy. It’s hard to hack a piece of paper.